dotnet publish not working with dependent projects

[Tardigrade42]

Description

This issue is the same as #7268 which was closed because of missing information. So I had to make a new one.

The issue might by the way have constrains to multiple other building-issues, but I have not found anything completely similar.

The issue is, that I cannot build a Maui App with dotnet publish if it has dependencies to other projects of any kind.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Create a Maui-App from the template
2. Add another project of any type (Maui Class Library, Class Library > net 6.0 etc.) to the solution
3. Add a dependency in the Maui-App for the other project
4. Try to build it with one of the following commands:
   • For x86
     dotnet publish TestApp/TestApp.csproj -c Release -f:net6.0-windows10.0.19041.0 /p:GenerateAppxPackageOnBuild=true /p:Platform=x86 /p:AppxPackageSigningEnabled=true /p:PackageCertificateThumbprint="<Your_Cert_Thumbprint>" /p:RuntimeIdentifier=win10-x86
   • For x64
     dotnet publish TestApp/TestApp.csproj -c Release -f:net6.0-windows10.0.19041.0 /p:GenerateAppxPackageOnBuild=true /p:Platform=x64 /p:AppxPackageSigningEnabled=true /p:PackageCertificateThumbprint="<Your_Cert_Thumbprint>"

(Both commands are for the Windows Powershell)

In both cases, the following command is showing up:
*:\Users\***\.nuget\packages\microsoft.windowsappsdk\1.1.3\buildTransitive\Microsoft.Build.Msix.Packaging.targets(138,5): error : Improper project configuration: WindowsPackageType is set to None, but GenerateAppxPackageOnBuild is set to true. [*:\Users\***\Desktop\ TestApp\TestLib\TestLib.csproj]

(TestLib is the NET Maui Classlibrary I added).

Note: After you add the dependency in TestApp, make sure, that the .csproj file has saved. Otherwise, the error is not showing up. (This was an issue I just ran into)

Link to public reproduction project repository

https://github.com/Tardigrade42/Maui-Issue-9879

Version with bug

6.0.486 (current)

Last version that worked well

Unknown/Other

Affected platforms

Windows

Affected platform versions

I guess all Windows versions

Did you find any workaround?

A 'workaround' was to put everything into one project.

Relevant log output

No response

Depends on

• dotnet publish results in an error about duplicate files microsoft/WindowsAppSDK#3337

[AlanGusLive]

Related issue: #9547
Scheduled: .NET 7 Planning

[jfversluis]

As requested by the bug report template: can you please add a reproduction project with how you've set this all up? That will make it most clear what you're trying to do exactly and hopefully it will be easy for us to point out what might not look right or where a potential issue is, thanks!

[ghost]

Hi @Tardigrade42. We have added the "s/needs-repro" label to this issue, which indicates that we require steps and sample code to reproduce the issue before we can take further action. Please try to create a minimal sample project/solution or code samples which reproduce the issue, ideally as a GitHub repo that we can clone. See more details about creating repros here: https://github.com/dotnet/maui/blob/main/.github/repro.md

This issue will be closed automatically in 7 days if we do not hear back from you by then - please feel free to re-open it if you come back to this issue after that time.

[Tardigrade42]

@jfversluis: I added a repository to the original comment. I have also set up two actions to show the issue (yes, they base on your tutorial ;) ). You can find more details on how to reproduce the issue locally in the README of the repo.

[ghost]

We've moved this issue to the Backlog milestone. This means that it is not going to be worked on for the coming release. We will reassess the backlog following the current release and consider this item at that time. To learn more about our issue management process and to have better expectation regarding different types of issues you can read our Triage Process.

[mattleibow]

After a bunch of things and testing, I think there is a few bugs somewhere in the tooling parts of the system:

• The docs mentioned a property, but this was only meant to be used INSIDE the app .csproj:
  Remove mention of GenerateAppxPackageOnBuild docs-maui#857
• Building with a RID causes the app to build incorrectly:
  dotnet publish results in an error about duplicate files microsoft/microsoft-ui-xaml#7845
• Also note, using /p:Platform=* is not needed as the RID does that and works better in the .NET "Core" world.

There is a workaround for now:

Add this to the bottom of the app .csproj:

<PropertyGroup Condition="$([MSBuild]::GetTargetPlatformIdentifier('$(TargetFramework)')) == 'windows' and '$(RuntimeIdentifierOverride)' != ''">
	<RuntimeIdentifier>$(RuntimeIdentifierOverride)</RuntimeIdentifier>
</PropertyGroup>

Then when executing, use the new property instead of the RID:

dotnet publish MyApp.csproj -c Release -f net6.0-windows10.0.19041.0 /p:RuntimeIdentifierOverride=win10-x86

See also my PR: Tardigrade42/Maui-Issue-9879#2

[mattleibow]

I am going to close this issue as there is not much we can do for now. Hopefully the workaround is sufficient for now the fix comes soon in the new version of Windows App SDK.

@Tardigrade42 let me know if this helps at all.

[ghost]

Hi @Tardigrade42. We have added the "s/needs-info" label to this issue, which indicates that we have an open question for you before we can take further action. This issue will be closed automatically in 7 days if we do not hear back from you by then - please feel free to re-open it if you come back to this issue after that time.

[Tardigrade42]

Good morning @mattleibow,
thanks for the fast fix :) . It works fine for me. From my point of view, we can close the issue.

[Tardigrade42]

I have on short question left:
All the time, I build a Maui application with dotnet publish, I get the following warning:

C:\Users\runneradmin\.nuget\packages\microsoft.windowsappsdk\1.1.3\buildTransitive\Microsoft.Build.Msix.Packaging.targets(341,5): warning : Path to `mspdbcmf.exe` could not be found. A symbols package will not be generated. Review https://aka.ms/windowsappsdkdocs and ensure that all prerequisites for Windows App SDK development have been installed. [D:\a\Maui-Issue-9879\Maui-Issue-9879\TestIssue9879\MauiApplication\MauiApplication.csproj]

This warning can also be seen in your last GitHub Actions:
x86 run
x64 run

Is this of any concern / Is mspdbcmf.exe important? Or can I ignore this warning?

[mattleibow]

Awesome!

This warning is just that a special symbols package is not going to be created. This is safe to ignore, but might make debugging issues from the Store harder.

Could you open an issue about this warning on https://github.com/microsoft/WindowsAppSDK?

[mattleibow]

Moved the WASDK issue to microsoft/WindowsAppSDK#3337

[mattleibow]

Duplicate of #9547